Technical Field
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to packaging for medical devices. For example but without limitation, some embodiments disclosed herein relate to packaging for devices used to treat a wound with reduced pressure.
Description of the Related Art
The treatment of open or chronic wounds that are too large to spontaneously close or otherwise fail to heal by means of applying negative or reduced pressure to the site of the wound is well known in the art. Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) or topical negative pressure (TNP) systems currently known in the art commonly involve placing a cover that is impermeable or semi-permeable to fluids over the wound, using various means to seal the cover to the tissue of the patient surrounding the wound, and connecting a source of negative pressure (such as a vacuum pump) to the cover in a manner so that negative pressure is created and maintained under the cover. It is believed that such negative pressures promote wound healing by facilitating the formation of granulation tissue at the wound site and assisting the body's normal inflammatory process while simultaneously removing excess fluid, which may contain adverse cytokines bacteria.
Briefly, negative pressure wound therapy assists in the closure and healing of many forms of “hard to heal” wounds by reducing tissue oedema, encouraging blood flow and granular tissue formation, and/or removing excess exudate and can reduce bacterial load (and thus infection risk). In addition, the therapy allows for less disturbance of a wound leading to more rapid healing. TNP therapy systems can also assist in the healing of surgically closed wounds by removing fluid and by helping to stabilize the tissue in the apposed position of closure. A further beneficial use of TNP therapy can be found in grafts and flaps where removal of excess fluid is important and close proximity of the graft to tissue is required in order to ensure tissue viability.
Many different types of wound dressings are known for aiding in NPWT systems. These different types of wound dressings include many different types of materials and layers, for example, gauze, pads, foam pads or multi-layer wound dressings. The wound dressing may be sealed to a suction port providing connection to a length of tubing, which may be used to pump fluid out of the dressing and also to transmit negative pressure from a pump to the wound dressing.
In certain NPWT dressings, an absorbent, gentle-adhesive wound dressing may be sealed over a wound and connected to a source of negative pressure such as a portable vacuum pump. The connection may be a fluidic connector pre-attached to the dressing. The dressing may be configured to absorb fluid from the wound and to distribute negative pressure across the wound bed. When the dressing has reached its absorbent capacity, it may be removed and a new dressing may be sealed over the wound and attached to the negative pressure source. Although this may be carried out by medical staff in a hospital setting, certain NPWT systems are sold to patients for at-home use. Known packaging of a NPWT system have included boxes and trays having one or more compartments to receive components such as a negative pressure pump, wound dressings, tubing, batteries and an instruction manual. However, such prior art packaging serves little or no purpose to the user after the components have been removed from the packaging.